Wednesday Bird Walk

It's Wednesday - time for a walk.

Let's do something a bit different this week and take a bird / nature walk along Clearwater Park in Springfield, Oregon. 

We started out with a pair of male Brown-headed Cowbirds.

And we saw or heard:

California Quail, Turkey Vulture, and a Bald Eagle flew along the Willamette River.

Here's a Downy Woodpecker

We also saw or heard:

Eurasian Collared Dove,  Anna’s Hummingbird, Northern Flicker, and Steller’s Jays.

House Finch

And to go with that:

Tree Swallow,  Violet-green Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow. The Northern Rough-wings Swallow was a New Bird for me.  Pretty exciting to see and hear the bird as it flew along the water of the Old Millrace.

Red-breasted Sapsucker

As well as:

Black-capped Chickadee, Bushtits, Bewick’s Wren, and American Robins.

I also saw a couple of new wildflowers.

This is Twinberry Honeysuckle (Lonicera involucrata). It looks nothing like the vines I am used to. It's a deciduous shrub that has small tubular yellow flowers. Then these wonderful bracks and berries. 

Spotted Towhee posed on the path.

There were also:

European Starling, Cedar Waxwing,  Yellow-breasted Chat, Orange-crowned and Warbler. The Chat lived up to his name and chatted away, though I was unable to get a good look at him.

Mourning Dove

and Orange-crowned Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Black-headed Grosbeak, and a Lazuli Bunting.

This is a mallow of some sort - much later blooming than the two kinds I have and it likes moisture as it is growing on the banks of a stream. 

Here's the Old Millrace as it flows into the Willamette River.

It made for a peaceful channel for this Mallard.

Song Sparrow

Western Wood-Pewee

There were Western Wood-Pewees everywhere.  My mom had never seen this flycatcher before - she had plenty of opportunities to observe it on the walk. 

Unknown wildflower - enjoy!

Blackberry

A young Red-tailed Hawk. It called and cried loudly and often.

A Great Blue Heron lurked quietly in the grasses and reads.

Western Wood-Pewees do not have to obey parking signs!

Chamomile.

We ended with a California Scrub Jay.

Thirty-one species for the morning.